Would You Buy a GM Vehicle?

Jane Wells|CNBC Correspondent

Tuesday, 16 Nov 2010 | 11:21 PM ETCNBC.com

SHARES

As General Motors emerges from bankruptcy, does its reputation remain bankrupt?

If sales tell the tale, taxpayers are in a forgiving mood. GM's October sales rose 3.5 percent from a year ago, up 13 percent when you take out discontinued brands. Last summer, Consumer Reports said Honda and Toyota still rule in quality, but GM showed the most improvement.

Here are the opinions of four drivers and one Chevrolet dealer in Indiana. Living in America's heartland, they were asked their views on what was once America's greatest brand.

The Patriot

Kristina Branch of New Palestine, Indiana, drove a Honda, but wanted a lower car payment.

"I've had GM cars in the past, as well as Ford, Honda," she says, "...and I've been very pleased with the GM products that I've had." She wasn't sure what kind of car to buy, but she found the Chevy Cruze and liked it. "I thought it was the best value I could find out there, and it served the purpose of cutting the payment like we wanted to."

Branch has been unhappy with GM as a business. "It just seems like when everyone else was trying to economize as the economy went bad, they didn't do anything to improve their status." But she decided to buy American, in part, because it's American. "I really wouldn't like to see GM or Ford or any of the American brands die out," she says. "We've got a lot of American workers that are invested in those companies."

As for her new Chevy? "It's great. I love it...it makes you feel like you have a much more expensive car than you really have."

The Spurned Lover

Tina Siefert of Fishers, Indiana, drives a 2002 Saturn. "It's taken a lot of abuse and it's been a great car for us." She and her husband also drive a 1997 GMC Sierra.

These people know GM cars. However...

"It's real hard for us to say that we would buy another GM because of some of the things the company has done in past years," Siefert says.

For one thing, she loves her Saturn, and Saturn is now gone. "We were very upset with that, and it's one of the reasons we don't think we'll ever buy another GM."

That's not all.

"They haven't been able to handle their finances well," Siefert says. "The government had to bail them out, which means we, the taxpayers, had to bail them out." She also points to quality issues in the past which she says foreign manufacturers, "even the ones that manufacture cars here," don't seem to have. At the same time, Siefert thinks GM may have turned a corner. "They're making some great cars, they're coming out with the Volt, which is a really interesting kind of vehicle, and something that no one else is doing right now."

It's not enough to change her mind. GM's progress is overshadowed by its past.

"We don't know yet what we're going to buy, but it'll probably not be a GM."

"I'm hoping to buy in the next couple years," he says. Gesturing to his Volkswagen Jetta, he laughs, "That has 160,000 miles on it."

Not long ago, he wouldn't have even considered buying a GM vehicle. "It was an older person's brand as well as if you were looking at a truck."

But Lipa started looking at the Chevy Cruze, with it's 42 mpg on the highway, and he may give it serious consideration. "GM's image has changed a lot over the past couple years," Lipa says. "They've become a car manufacturer who's able to offer cars that are good quality instead of just what I used to consider bargain and cheap cars."

The Unreachable

Rocky Walls just bought a brand new Honda Accord and drove it from Indianapolis to Disney World in Orlando.

"It's working great for me so far." He briefly considered a GM car when a client he worked for suggested it, but the idea was only fleeting. "We feel like Hondas have a little bit better resale value," he says. "Some of the American cars that I see don't look like they're in as nice a shape."

Walls admits he's no car expert. "I don't even know how to change my oil," he says. So why is he anti-GM? "It's a sentiment I think that has been passed on to me by people that I do think know a lot about vehicles."

His last vehicle was a Honda, and his next vehicle will probably be a Honda, too. "I feel like General Motors is probably a great company, they probably produce great cars, but I feel like Hondas are just better."

The Pitchman

Chris Theisen is what you might call "Car Salesman 2.0". He's the head of digital communications for Hare Chevrolet in Noblesville, Indiana. He's been busy blogging, Tweeting, YouTube-ing and Facebookingfor the dealership, "...so when I help you online, and you have a good experience, you tell your thousand friends instead of telling your ten friends in Noblesville."

Theisen says October and November have been Hare's two biggest months in terms of unit sales. Why? He credits new models with unique styling which give Chevys a distinctive look separate from other GM brands. "Chevy's kind of helped pull in people with the product the last couple of years...so instead of you having to go and find them and they'll say, 'I like you, but I don't like your cars," now it's, 'I like you AND I like the cars."

Theisen says his efforts are focused on reaching the buyers "in the middle", those who are open to the possibility that GM has really changed. "The people that want to drive Hondas and Fords are going to drive Hondas and Fords," he says. "And then, we're always gonna have the Chevy people."